Do you think this was a mistake or not?

Question

i was doing alittle reading, and came across this horse who, from what i understand/read was a great horse, except for one fault. In 2003 he had about 55,000 living descendants.

here's the web page to read more about this horse (read or skim before you answer please):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressive_(horse)

Do you think they shouldve breed this horse as good as he was with the one fault?

To give another question, do you think that Big brown might have an effect on the TB industry the way this horse was in the quater horse insdustry?

please answer/think bout the question asked and answer it. I'm asking do you think a horse that is "perfect" except for one genetic flaw should be breed enough to effect a whole breed?

Answer 1

the reason for doing this is kinda like embreeding. the moe decendants the more risk you run of having birth defects, severe health problems, trust me after you have seen deformed horses and bad ugly health problems you would understand why they have these rules in place. I find it more humane not for him to have reproduced think of the pain and problems the offspring might have encountered.

Answer 2

Impressive was breeding more than 30 years ago. during his lifetime they didn't know he was the orginator of the HYPP gene. nobody knew he was "flawed". now that the gene has been traced back to him and it's public knowledge then i think breeders have a responsibility to the breed to stop passing on this genetic fault. i think the industry is moving in the right direction by requiring manatory HYPP status on registration papers and refusing to registor H/H foals. i think they also need to ban H/N foals but i don't think that will happen in all reality.

I don't think big brown is going to have any legacy close to Impressive! Big brown is not the super horse that the public was lead to believe. Big brown's performances without steriods have been mediocre at best, with him just barely pulling out a win against other average horses. sure, big brown will lead a pampered life as a stud, but there are too many other studs standing that are better than him and have proven offspring that are also standing with great success

Answer 3

mistake

Answer 4

It was for one not known in him it was LATER found in his foals. I have a horse with Impressive offspring in her pedigree and she is the best horse I have ever worked with. If most of his offspring were coming up w/ it then it might have been a good idea not to. However those who bred to him knew it was a possibility. Note, not a guarantee  Also these horses with the problem still are able to live and be ridden. And these offspring with the syndrome for sure should not have been bred.

Answer 5

yes i think he should have been able to breed

Answer 6

The breeders of AQHA halter horses didn't realize that Impressive was carrying a gene that would effect their horses in a very negative way until several hundred of his get were on the ground and demonstrating the affects of HYPP.  THEN, research began to try to determine where the problem originated.  

The end product of the research was your quote just above.  How is it "sad" that HYPP is connected to Impressive?  It's something that has to be dealt with ASAP.   It doesn't matter who the sire is from what breed organization...if horses have to be put down because of the defect , it has to be dealt with.  

This particular "flaw" was such and effected horses in such a negative way that there wasn't any other choice other than to name "names" to begin to eradicate the problem.   Anytime a problem like this comes up within a breed the situation has to be handled.   No other way around it.

Responsible breeders are those that are doing something about the problem to make sure the horses that they are producing won't be a liability in someone else's barn.